PARALYMPICS 2024: Wheelchair tennis ace Alwande Sikhosana advances to second round

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's top men's wheelchair tennis player, Alwande Sikhosana took down Brazil's Gustavo Silva on Friday.

The 24-year-old took down Silva in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, to secure his spot in the second round where he will face the 16th-seeded Daisuke Arai of Japan.

Sikhosana earned a direct qualification slot for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in 2023 when he was crowned wheelchair tennis men's champion at the Africa Para Games in Accra, Ghana.

In 2022, Sikhosana snatched the ITF Futures singles title at the Aspendos Open in Turkey after beating Costa Rica’s Jose Pablo Gil 6-4, 6-1 to claim his fourth title of the 2022 season.

Sikhosana’s breakthrough came in 2017, when at just 16 he stunned four-time Soweto Open champion, Leon Els, to win his first men’s singles title at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in Soweto.

In swimming, Nathan Hendricks reached his second final in two days and improved his morning heats time to finish seventh in 1:03.43sec in the men’s 100m S13 backstroke.

With para-athlete, Sheryl James finished 7th in the T37 200m final on Saturday night.

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